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More than 60 thousand people gathered at Lafayette Park for the tenth edition of the Festival Chapín, a cultural event that paid tribute to Puerto Barrios and brought together over 150 exhibitors offering traditional food, crafts, and music to the Guatemalan diaspora in Los Angeles County.
The Guatemalan community filled Lafayette Park in Los Angeles to celebrate its culture, gastronomy, art, and history during the tenth anniversary of the Festival Chapín, an event that paid tribute this year to Puerto Barrios, a city located in the department of Izabal in the northeastern region of Guatemala.
Since its inception in 2017, the festival has gathered more than 60 thousand people across the two days of cultural programming, drawing a crowd that exceeds 150 exhibitors including local businesses and entrepreneurs alongside companies, artisans, and merchants who travel from Guatemalan soil interested in offering their products to fellow nationals. The Guatemalan population in Los Angeles County is estimated at approximately 179 thousand people, making this event a significant commercial and cultural bridge between the Central American nation and the diaspora living in Southern California.
Heidy González Pozuelos, originally from the department of Santa Rosa and a resident of Los Angeles since 1996, commented that the festival reminds her of the fairs held in the towns of her homeland, expressing appreciation for the musical groups, food, crafts, sweets, and traditional treats brought to the celebration. Two stages were installed for the occasion featuring various local artists and invited performers from Guatemala, complemented by a full block of mechanical rides and a total of ten blocks filled with businesses offering a wide range of nostalgic products.
According to the organizers, the Guatemalan Ministry of Economy sponsored 20 entrepreneurs to participate in this edition of the festival, highlighting the institutional support behind the gathering. Despite the intense heat, the community gathered for the opening ceremony held on Saturday afternoon, which included the entry of a giant Guatemalan flag carried through the crowd as part of the protocol act.
The flag made its way through the multitude assembled in front of the main stage while the traditional marimba, the instrument that accompanies celebrations among natives of this Central American nation, provided the soundtrack for the event. Each year across the two-day festival more than 60 thousand people attend, which is why entrepreneurs and business owners travel from Guatemala seeking to reach the United States market.
Giovanni Bautista, spokesperson for the Festival Chapín, explained that this event becomes a bridge for those looking to find a piece of their homeland and for those who produce nostalgic goods, emphasizing the dual cultural and commercial nature of the celebration. The marimba once again took center stage as the protagonist of the festivities, and for the first time the organizers prepared a marimba ensemble featuring several groups that will perform simultaneously.
Bautista noted that this year the marimba will take on even greater relevance than customary, with the ensemble scheduled to perform on Sunday, August 30, at 9 p.m. to close the cultural event with a memorable finale. Among the exhibitor booths rises an arch representing an iconic monument of the city of Puerto Barrios located on the boardwalk of the port city.
This piece of art, crafted by David Olivares, serves to represent the tourist attraction where visitors to that locality pose for a memorable photograph, a tradition that festival attendees are now replicating at the Los Angeles event. The iconic monument of Puerto Barrios, which bears the legend Tierra de Dios, was installed at the Festival Chapín as a symbol of pride and remembrance.
Upon seeing this monument, Aroldo Ramírez was transported back to his childhood, as although he was born in Zacapa, he grew up in Puerto Barrios from the age of two and identifies himself as a native of the port city where he spent 21 years of his youth before arriving in Los Angeles in 1982. Ramírez has put down roots in the city and advocates for migrants as vice president of the organization Misión Guatemala USA, stating that the arch at the Festival Chapín generates nostalgia and allows migrants to feel a piece of Puerto Barrios.
To represent the municipality of Puerto Barrios, Mayor Hugo René Sarceño Orellana installed a booth at the festival where he is giving away handicrafts that the municipal government purchased from local entrepreneurs, while also providing information about the city founded in 1895 that bears the name of former President Justo Rufino Barrios, who governed Guatemala between 1873 and 1885. The presence of municipal authorities underscores the official recognition and importance that Guatemalan local governments attach to maintaining ties with their communities abroad through cultural celebrations of this magnitude
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Festival Chapín Guatemalan Community Los Angeles Lafayette Park Puerto Barrios Marimba Migrant Culture
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